Hellmuth von Mücke (21 June 1881 – 30 July 1957) was an Officer of the Kaiserliche Marine, the navy of the German Empire, in the early 20th century and World War I.

[1] But finally, on 9 November 1914, she encountered and was severely damaged by the larger, faster, and more heavily armed Australian light cruiser, HMAS Sydney in the Battle of Cocos.

It was the Ayesha, a wooden topsail schooner owned by Clunies-Ross of Cocos Keeling Islands which Mücke and his men commandeered to escape being taken as prisoners of war, in November 1914, after their ship was destroyed in a battle with the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney.

They seized a derelict, 97-ton, three-masted schooner, the Ayesha, quickly made her seaworthy, and escaped when the Sydney sailed away to capture the Emden's collier, the Buresk.

[3] Over the next six months, Mücke led his small command on one of the longest escapes recorded – over 11,000 kilometres (6,800 mi) by sea and land – losing only one man to disease and three to enemy action, a remarkable achievement for the times.

In November 1914, after their ship was destroyed in a battle with the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney, Mücke commandeered a topsail wooden schooner; Ayesha, to escape being taken as prisoners of war.

Once on the Arabian Peninsula, Mücke and his men experienced months of delay securing the financial assistance of local Turkish officials to return to Germany.

At last he decided to lead his men on an over-water voyage up the east coast of the Red Sea to Jeddah, and thence to Medina, then the southern terminus of the Hejaz Railway.

Approaching Jeddah they were beset by hundreds of armed Bedouin tribesmen in a three-day battle that claimed one officer and had two enlisted men killed.

[5] The arrival of Mücke and his men back in Germany, after their successful commerce raiding cruise, and long and arduous return voyage, was greeted with widespread acclaim.

[10] Turning against Hitler, he reconsidered his position regarding re-armament, left the Nazi Party, embraced pacifism, and lectured and wrote extensively on the subject.

The family was moved from their home on the island of Föhr during this unstable period, and was finally settled inland, in Ahrensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, where Mücke lived from 1940 until his death.